41.Scholars are, of all people, those least
familiar
with the ways of politics.

The 1203reason
for this is that (scholars) are used to mental speculation and to a
searching study of ideas which they abstract from the sensibilia and conceive in
their minds as general universals, so that they may be applicable to
some matter in general but not to any particular matter, individual,
race, nation, or group of people. (Scholars,) then, make such universal
ideas conform (in their minds) to facts of the outside world. They also
compare things with others that are similar to or like them, with the
help of analogical reasoning as used in jurisprudence, which is
something familiar to them. All their conclusions and views continue to
be something in the mind. They come to conform (to the facts of the
outside world) only after research and speculation has come to an end,
or they may never come to conform (to them). The facts of the outside
world are merely special cases of the (ideas) that are in the mind. For
instance, the religious laws are special cases derived from the
well-known (texts) of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. In their case, one
expects the facts of the outside world to conform to them, in contrast
with the intellectual sciences, where, in order to (prove) the soundness
of views, one expects those views to conform to the facts of the outside
world.

Thus, in all their intellectual activity, scholars are
accustomed to dealing with matters of the mind and with thoughts. They
do not know anything else. Politicians, on the other hand, must pay
attention to the facts of the outside world and the conditions attaching
to and depending on (politics). (These facts and conditions) are
obscure. They may contain some (element) making it impossible to refer
them to something like and similar, or contradicting the universal
(idea) to which one would like them to conform. The conditions existing
in civilization cannot (always) be compared with each other. They may be
alike in one respect, but they may differ in other respects.

(Now,) scholars are accustomed to generalizations and
analogical conclusions. When they look at politics, they press (their
observations) into the mold of their views and their way of making
deductions. Thus, they commit many errors, or (at least) they cannot be
trusted (not to commit errors). The intelligent and alert (segment) of
civilized people falls into the same category as (scholars). Their
penetrating minds drive them toward a searching occupation with ideas,
analogy, and comparison, as is the case with jurists. Thus, they (too)
commit errors.

The average person of a healthy disposition and a
mediocre intelligence has not got the mind for (such speculation) and
does not think of it. Therefore, he restricts himself to considering
every matter as it is, and to judging every kind of situation and every
type of individual by its particular (circumstances). His judgment is
not infected with analogy and generalization. Most of his speculation
stops at matters perceivable by the senses, and he does not go beyond
them in his mind, like a swimmer who stays in the water near the shore,
as the poet says:

Do not go out too deep when swimming. Safety lies near
the shore.

Such a man, therefore,
can be trusted when he reflects upon his
political activities. He has the right outlook in deal­ing with his
fellow men. Thus, he makes a good living and suffers no damage or harm
in the (process of making a living), because he has the right outlook.

This (situation) makes one realize that logic cannot be
trusted to prevent the commission of errors, because it is too abstract
and remote from the sensibilia. (Logic) considers the secondary
intelligibilia. It is possible that material
things contain something that does not admit of (logical) conclusions
and contradicts them, when one looks for unequivocal con­formity
(between them and the facts of the outside world). It is different with
speculation about the primary intelligibilia,
which are less abstract. They are matters of
the imagination and pictures of the sensibilia.
They retain (certain features of the sensibilia)and
permit verification of the conformity of (the
sensibilia to the primary intelligibilia). 1205